A second chance at LOVE

Falling for someone isn't always straightforward or expected - but love later in life has made these women happier than they thought possible

Happiness can be snatched away so quickly

Stacey Macdonald, 45, lost her first husband to a heart attack at Christmas in 2013. A year later, she met Angus (pictured, right), 50. They are now married and live on the Isle of Lewis with Stacey's daughter, Ronah, 21.

I was a high-flyer in banking and a single mum when I met Chris in a Glasgow bar in 2008. I was 31, he was 41 and we immediately clicked. His life's mission was to make people happy - especially me and my daughter Ronah, then six. Within months, we were a family - Chris quickly became a fantastic stepfather and we married in 2013.

But one December morning, just 62 days after our wedding, I came downstairs to find Chris slumped, silent and still, on the sofa. My wonderful friend and husband was dead, taken from us by a massive heart attack.

Telling 12-year-old Ronah that her dad was in heaven was the worst thing possible, and we wept together.

Chris and I had planned a Christmas house-warming party on 28 December. Instead, we held his funeral that day. One thousand people came to commemorate his life that's how special he was.

Getting through that first year was hard. Each anniversary - Chris' birthday, the day we'd first met, the day he'd proposed - reminded me so painfully of what I'd lost.

Then, on the first anniversary of Chris' death, I realised I didn't want to be lonely any more. I knew Chris would have wanted me to be happy, so I took my courage in my hands and posted a profile on a dating site.

Within two weeks I'd connected with Angus. We talked online for over a month; he told me he was divorced and didn't have children. I told him all about Chris, and he was deeply sympathetic about my loss. Gradually, a real friendship developed.